Ships in the Night
by lucawindmover
Summary: Sequel to "Slipping Underneath"...After finding out that she's pregnant with an impossible baby, Elena had hoped to get answers from Katherine. When the woman in question isn't where she's supposed to be, Elena turns to searching for her birthmother with disastrous results…(Angsty with Delena endgame)
1. Prologue

A/N: WARNING: This is the second book in my Doppelganger Diaries Series. If you haven't read "Slipping Underneath" I highly recommend going back and doing so before reading any farther. That being said, if you are someone who had already read that story, please continue! I'm excited to share this next installment with you!

* * *

"Ships in the Night"

Lucawindmover

Prologue

"Slipping Underneath"

* * *

"_I don't wanna fall out but we're all out of time." ~_ _Sam Tsui "I Don't Want an Ending_

_Well, my brother has done it again. Somehow Damon has managed to cause me misery and pain all over again. Years ago when he'd promised to make the rest of my undead life a living nightmare, I'd just thought he was being dramatic. I hadn't really believed him. He had always been prone to flights of fancy. He has always had a short attention span. When we became vampires and our natural tendencies were heightened and amplified, I had just assumed this was one of those traits that would continue. I had thought his promise of my misery was something I might endure for a year or two. I thought he would get bored with it and move on._

_I was so wrong._

_Every horrible thing that has befallen me over these decades can be traced back to him. Whether something as insignificant as financial ruin or more important, like my friends being harmed or killed, Damon was behind it. Every single time the Ripper side of myself has been unleashed it's been because my brother tempted or tricked me in one way or another. He hasn't always been obvious about it. Sometimes he would spend years assembling an intricate house of cards around me and when I was least expecting it, he would kick out one of the bottom cards and leave me with the mess. He loves to watch from the wings while my life falls apart around me._

_But this thing with Elena is the last straw for me. I swear, if he does anything to Elena I will kill him. I've never been able to before because I love him. I love him and I regret forcing this life on him. All the times he ruins me feels like penance. It takes away a little more guilt each time, making it easier for me to live with myself knowing that I took away his choice._

_Elena is a line he can_not_ cross with me. I love her. I love her more than I love him. I will do anything to protect her, from him and from myself. That's part of the reason I'm so conflicted right now._

_The last few months have been surreal. When she left with Damon and went to Georgia, I didn't know what to think. Granted, he'd kidnapped her, but I still expected a little more resistance on her part. I know that we had been fighting at the time. That has to have some effect on how things played out there. I should have told her about how she looked like Katherine. I hate that she found out by looking at a picture on a table in my room. What kind of boyfriend am I to have kept that around? She was understandably upset._

_Telling her she was adopted? That is near the top of my list of difficult things I've had to do in my life. She took it better than I'd expected but it still hurt to have to tell her at all. I'd have much rather let her go through her life believing that the people who raised her were her biological parents. But she needed to know that she was tied to Katherine somehow and I didn't know how else to explain it to her._

_But that wasn't the biggest piece of information revealed in the last few months._

_Elena is pregnant. With my child._

_I have turned that thought over in my head a hundred times and I still can't get it to make sense. My reaction to Elena and Damon telling me was probably one of my lowest moments. I can't believe I accused her of cheating. I can't believe I made it seem like there was something unseemly going on between her and my brother. She seems like one of the first genuine friends he's had since we became vampires and I immediately decided something was false about it. What kind of person, what kind of brother, does that make me?_

_I'm going to be a father?_

_When I became a vampire, I'd understood that I was giving up the possibility of having children. It didn't matter to me at the time because the woman I was in love with was a vampire and couldn't have children either. I was young. I wasn't thinking of babies, I was thinking of being with Katherine for all eternity. _

_But after she was gone and I'd lived a few decades, I started to realize what I had lost and it haunted me. There is a part of me that would have loved to settle down with a beautiful wife and make dozens of babies. And yet, I would never be able to. I knew that. I thought I knew that. I'd come to terms with the reality of it._

_And now? I don't know how I feel. Not that Elena is giving me much room to feel anything about it. She's all but closed me off. I don't blame her, given the circumstances. But I want to be a father, now that I know I can be. I want to show her that. I just don't know how to get her to come around. Not when she has her friends, and Damon, to fall back on._

_Well, I know a piece of information that really could change her opinion of her new best friend. But it would tear her apart. Would it be worth it? Would breaking her heart and turning her against my brother really be worth the chance of her taking me back? At the same time though, would keeping this information from her really be a good thing for her? I mean, she's going to figure it out eventually. Wouldn't it be better to come from a friend? Is keeping the information from her actually protecting her or just delaying the inevitable?_

_See, I have figured out that Elena's birthmother, Isobel, was Alaric Saltzman's wife. I think Elena suspects this but she doesn't know for sure. I _do_ know for sure. I heard it from Alaric's own mouth. And I also know that Damon killed Alaric's wife. Which means that Damon killed Elena's birthmother. I'm not sure of the circumstances involved here but I doubt that anything Damon could say to Elena would really make up for this fact. When she hears this, when she figures it out, she's going to be heartbroken. As much as she has tried not to worry about the fact that she's adopted, I know part of her was hoping to build a relationship with the woman. I mean, her parents, the people who raised her, are gone. Jenna tries to be a good guardian and mostly succeeds, but she wasn't ready to be a parent and certainly not to two grieving teenagers. Now Damon has taken away the possibility of Elena meeting her birthmother._

_Do I tell her? Or do I let her find out on her own? I have no idea what to do. I've been sitting here all night wrestling with the possibilities. Nothing makes sense right now._

_I don't know what to do._

"_Yeah, the time goes on now, Don't ask me how. I don't know." ~Sam Tsui "I Don't Want an Ending"_

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Disclaimer: I don't own anything. L. J. Smith is the genius behind the original Vampire Diaries characters and those things related to their universe. Also, any direct lines from the show should be credited to Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec. I just enjoy tormenting the wonderful characters she has created for us. I claim no rights to them!


	2. Chapter 1

"Ships in the Night"

Lucawindmover

Chapter One

"Good Enough

* * *

"_I see you creep into my room like smoke, under my door, I can feel you in my throat." ~Youngblood Hawke "Rootless"_

It was a quiet morning at the Gilbert house, which wasn't unusual for a Saturday. Aunt Jenna had left to run errands before Elena had even gotten up. Jeremy wouldn't be awake before noon. He never was on a Saturday. There was no telling what time he'd finally gone to bed. He hadn't been at the Bachelor Auction and he hadn't been at home with Elena so she had no idea what he'd been up to last night.

All Elena knew was that she wanted to take advantage of the quiet. She went down to the kitchen and poured herself a bowl of cereal. With her bowl in one hand and her book for English in the other, she sat down at the dining room table. Because there was no one around to see her do it, she propped her feet up on the tabletop and scooted down a little in her chair. She settled her bowl in her lap and broke open the cheap, pink paperback and started reading.

Her English teacher had let them choose which books they wanted to read individually at the beginning of the semester. Elena was finding it annoyingly prophetic that she'd chosen "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the tragic tale of a woman who bore a child out of wedlock. Granted, Elena wasn't an adulteress, but the symbolism wasn't lost on her.

She had only gotten a few pages in when a knock on the glass of the back door made her jump. She almost dumped her cereal on the floor as she turned to see who it was.

There stood Damon on the other side of the glass, wiggling his fingers at her. Somehow he managed to turn an innocent gesture into something suggestive with the way he cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head a little.

Elena rolled her eyes and motioned for him to enter. She would never get used to him just dropping by like this. He let himself in and grinned at seeing her feet propped up on the table.

"Is this was passes for manners these days?" he asked with a smirk. He took a seat in the chair across from her and plopped his feet up next to hers. His black motorcycle boots dwarfed her bare feet but she didn't move them.

Elena shrugged and finished swallowing a mouthful of cereal. "I don't need manners when I'm by myself," she responded. "Which I _was_ until a minute ago. What are you doing her this early?" she asked before taking another bite. With her mouth full, she added, "Shouldn't you be somewhere nursing a hangover?"

Damon laughed. "I don't do hangovers anymore," he answered. He crossed his arms behind his head and leaned his chair back a little. Elena found herself wishing, a little, that it would fall over backwards with him in it. It would be incredibly humorous for her but it would never happen. Damon's reflexes were too quick for that.

"That's really not fair," she said. She finished the milk in the bottom of her bowl and placed it on the table with a clank. "You get good looks, immortality, _and_ immunity to hangovers?"

Damon grinned. "You think I look good?"

"Oh come on," she said as she opened her book back to the page she had marked, refusing to look at him. "You know you're gorgeous. Don't act like this is news to you."

Damon snickered, knowingly. She stared at the page in front of her but she knew it was useless. There was no way she could concentrate with Damon watching her but she was resolved to try anyway. After a few minutes, he was the one to break the silence.

"What are you reading?"

She turned the cover of the book to him without taking her eyes of the page, hoping that he could get the hint that she was busy and not in a particular mood to talk. She didn't know why she was feeling grumpy this morning. Physically she felt fine which should have put her in a great mood.

"Ugh," he said after taking in the title. "Why are you reading _that_?"

"It's what I picked for English. I _have_ to read it," she answered. Finally she decided to give up and closed the book, tossing it on the table.

"That's even worse," he said. "You got to _choose_ and you picked that?"

Elena crossed her arms. "Well, it wasn't a long list to pick from. It boiled down to that or something by Charles Dickens. I can't read Dickens. He's too depressing."

"Yeah, well _that's_ true," Damon agreed.

Elena sighed. "You didn't come here to talk about Literature, Damon. What is it?"

Damon tapped one of her bare feet with the edge of his boot. "You forgot already?"

"Forgot what?"

He groaned. "Okay, so you come to my place last night begging me to take you to go see this Peterson woman while I'm drunk and now that I'm sober, you're telling me you forgot?"

Elena felt her face redden. She hadn't really forgotten. She'd hoped he had though. Now that she'd had time to think about it, she was starting to get cold feet. There was every chance in the world that meeting her birthmother would be a mistake. That thought had kept her up quite a bit last night.

"Oh," she said. "That. Well, I'm starting to think maybe there's no rush on that."

Damon laughed but it was quite humorless. "Nope."

"Nope?"

"Nope. There is no way you are getting out of this that easily. We still need answers, right?"

Elena shrugged. "Well, yeah. But I don't see how a friend from my birthmother's past could really shed any light on how I managed to get pregnant by a vampire."

Damon rolled his eyes and set his chair down on all four legs. "No, but she might be able to point us in the direction of your mother. If we can find your mother we might be able to figure out how your lineage traces back to Katherine."

"And that'll give us answers?"

He shrugged. "It's the only lead we have."

Elena paused and thought it over for a moment. "Is it the only lead we have to information or the only lead to finding Katherine?"

Damon furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"

"We might be able to use this information to track down Katherine, if she really is my ancestor. That thought has to have crossed your mind."

He broke eye contact with her, glancing off to the left. In that instant, Elena knew she'd been right to question his motives. "It might have occurred to me."

"So which is it, Damon?" she asked. She pulled her feet down off the table and sat up straight. "Are you helping me find my answers or are you looking for your lost love?"

Damon threw his arms out wide, bringing his eyes back to hers. "Why can't it be both? Hmm? If we're going on this wild goose chase anyway, what does it matter? What's the problem with us both getting something out of it?"

Elena shook her head. "It's not a problem. I just want to know where your loyalties are."

He dropped his arms. "What does loyalty have anything to do with it?"

She pursed her lips. "Okay, say we start down this path. Say we get a piece of information that leads to my mother and to Katherine. Only they're in two different directions. What if I need your help but you go chasing after Katherine instead? Where does that leave me? Hmm? Asking Stefan?"

"Why do you have to ask anyone? God, Elena, you're a big girl. You can do this," he said, crossing his arms. "You have to. Nobody's going to do it for you."

Elena put her face in her hands for a moment. "You're right," she said, her voice muffled. "You're totally right."

She dropped her hands from her face and sighed. "Sorry," she said. "I just, well I just need to know that somebody has my back in all this mess."

Damon frowned. "Look, it doesn't matter who we're chasing after, I'm not going to let anybody hurt you, okay?" he paused and gestured toward her stomach. "Or the little bird."

Elena uncovered her face and smiled a little. "Thanks."

"Okay, okay," he said, rolling his head to loosen his neck. "Enough of this sappy shit. Are you showering before we go or what?"

She laughed as she stood. "Now that's the Damon I recognize."

"Damn straight," he replied, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Elena shook her head and headed up to get ready to go hunting for answers.

* * *

Jeremy pressed his ear against the door and listened as his sister and Damon left through the back door. He'd thought they were never going to leave. He turned back to the girl on his bed and grinned. "They're gone," he said, leaning back against the door.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Hello human," she said, waving at him sarcastically. "Vampire hearing. I knew they were gone before you did."

Jeremy took the jibe good-naturedly, crossing the room in a couple of long strides and jumping on the end of the bed. Anna giggled as he crawled up her body, leaving a trail of kisses as he moved.

The last month had been really strange for Jeremy. He had met Anna in the library while he was researching his paper for Mr. Saltzman. At the time, she had been really into him, calling him all the time and wanting to hang out. He'd been really standoffish, wanting to be friends without getting serious. He was still dealing with the issues he had surrounding Vicki's quick departure. That girl had really broken his heart.

But Anna had worn him down. She had a goofy, geek girl charm that he found infectious. And while it would still take him a lot of time to really get over Vicki, he was finding that he was really attracted to Anna and her semi-stalkerish ways.

He'd realized that a few weeks ago and decided to ask her to that party in the woods. She'd shown and they'd had a couple of drinks. But when he pulled her away from the crowd in order to kiss her, she'd gotten really weird. He'd always known that there was something different about her but this wasn't a goofy personality trait. When she pulled out of the kiss, there were dark veins descending from her eyes to her cheeks. She had fangs. She tried to hide it quickly enough and maybe it would have fooled someone else, but after all the research he'd done for his history paper, about the vampires myths of Mystic Falls, he knew better.

Then she kind of disappeared on him. He didn't see her again for weeks. She didn't answer his phone calls or texts. She didn't show up on him randomly at the Grill. It was as if she'd totally fallen off the map. He didn't know what to think.

So when she showed up on his doorstep a few evenings ago, he was surprised. And really nervous. Even though he'd been trying to get in touch with her, he hadn't been entirely sure he wanted to see her again. He was pretty sure she was a vampire. And as dangerous as it was, he knew he had to test her.

It turned out he was right. When he cut his hand open and he watched her fangs descend, he finally felt like he hadn't been crazy after all.

He didn't really know what their relationship was now but he liked it. It was something without clear definition but that didn't matter. All he knew is that he really liked it when she slipped in through his window in the night, after everyone else was asleep. She would slide under his sheets behind him, usually without anything on, and wake him with a kiss on his neck.

Right now he kissed her thoroughly for a moment and then pulled back, letting himself fall to the side. He laid there smiling, staring at her in amazement. He couldn't believe that someone like Anna, who could have anyone, was here with him.

"What?" she asked, rolling on her side to face him. "Did I sprout horns or something?"

Jeremy laughed. "No. I just like looking at you."

He hadn't been sure that vampires could blush but it turned out they could. Her cheeks reddened a little as she smiled. "Yeah well, take a picture. It'll last longer."

"So that's a busted myth then, that vampires can't show up on film," he said. He took one of her hands in his and brought it to his lips.

"Busted. Mirrors too," she replied. She watched his lips brush her hand with fascination.

Jeremy rolled onto his back, pulling her against his chest with the movement. She grinned and settled her cheek against his shoulder. "I wonder who made up those myths. They're so dumb," he said. His free hand was tracing little circles on her back through the fabric of her tank top.

"Probably vampires," she answered.

"Why though?" he asked.

"Think about it," she said. "If the myth says that vampires can't show up in mirrors then real vampires can just stand in front of a mirror and say, 'See guys? I show up. Not a vampire.' And then the crazy mob moves on to the next guy."

Jeremy nodded. "Huh. Nice strategy," he said. He paused for a moment, enjoying the quiet. But his curiosity was getting the better of him. "Can I ask you another question?"

"All you've done for a _week_ is ask me questions," she said laughing and looking up at him.

Jeremy caught her eye and smirked. "Well, that's not _all_ I've done, you know."

She blushed again. He really liked making her do that. "How I about I ask you a question for a change?"

He shrugged. "Sure. But there's nothing about me that's nearly as interesting as you being a vampire."

She stuck her tongue out at him and he laughed. He'd laughed more in the last week than he had in the last year, he was sure.

"I just wanted to know what you think about Elena's whole thing," she said, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear. She propped her chin on his chest, watching his expressions.

He frowned. "What thing? Dating a vampire? Because really, I'm not in any position to judge on that one."

She shook her head. "No. I meant the whole pregnancy thing. How are you feeling about being an uncle?"

Jeremy blinked slowly. Pregnant? Elena couldn't be pregnant. She was dating a vampire. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Oh no," she said softly, pulling away from him and sitting up. "You didn't know?"

"Know what? She can't be pregnant, Anna."

Anna's brow furrowed and she fiddled with her fingers in her lap. "Actually, she can be. And yeah, she is. I'm sorry you had to find out this way. I really thought she'd have told you, since you guys are so close."

Jeremy pushed himself up to sitting, his eyes wide. "I don't understand," he said slowly.

"I don't either. Nobody does. I think she and Damon are trying to figure out how it's possible. But it's true, believe me."

Jeremy swallowed a lump in his throat. He was going to be an uncle? This couldn't be right. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized the truth of the situation. He'd watched Elena be sick, day after day, for weeks. He hadn't really thought about it though. She'd been sleeping more and eating at weird times of the day. She and Stefan had broken up. He should have realized there was something more going on. But he'd been distracted by his budding relationship with Anna.

All of a sudden, he was filled with anger. Once again, the little brother was being left in the dark. He hated it. He knew way more than she gave him credit for. He knew about Damon and Stefan being vampires. Anna had inadvertently clued him in to Bonnie being a witch, too. But when Elena spoke to him lately, it was as if he was a child. She was probably trying to protect him but he was old enough to protect himself. She didn't know that he knew.

Well, he was going to fix that. And he was going to find out what other things she was holding back from him. He was tired of being in the dark.

"_You ain't no good but you're good enough. I'll give you all my time but not my love." ~Youngblood Hawke, "Rootless"_

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Disclaimer: I don't own anything. L. J. Smith is the genius behind the original Vampire Diaries characters and those things related to their universe. Also, any direct lines from the show should be credited to Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec. I just enjoy tormenting the wonderful characters she has created for us. I claim no rights to them!


	3. Chapter 2

"Ships in the Night"

Lucawindmover

Chapter Two

"Skeletons"

* * *

"_You'll never know what I became because of you." ~Linkin Park "Powerless"_

Elena hadn't said much since they got in the car. She didn't have to for Damon to know that she was worried and overthinking. He could always tell. She was chewing her gum a little too loudly, popping it in a way that grated his nerves to no end. She continuously stared out the window as if the changing scenery was something she'd never seen before, even though they were still in the area surrounding where she grew up.

Damon didn't like it. She was far too pensive, too much like his brother.

"What is it now?" he asked, using his free right hand to reach over and poke her knee. "If you're thinking about jumping, I'd reconsider. Your human healing wouldn't be up to the task."

Elena startled, as if out of a daze. "What? Oh. No, it's nothing like that," she answered. She cranked the window down a little and tossed her gum out, much to Damon's extreme relief. He'd been on the verge of prying it out of her mouth himself.

"Well then what is it? You're stewing worse than Stefan does."

She frowned as she rolled the window back up. "I don't know what to do about prenatal care."

"Huh?"

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Prenatal care, Damon. Doctor visits for me and the baby."

Damon frowned. "Oh. Right. Do they not have baby doctors at the hospital?"

"Hmm, let me see," she said, sarcastically, and tapped her finger against her lips. "Do they have a doctor who will be trained in the latest vampire/human hybrid babies? No, probably not."

He clenched his teeth. "That's not what I meant. Surely they have just regular doctors for this type of thing, right?"

Elena sighed and nodded.

"Well, we just get you in to see one of those. And then I compel them not to make any records of you and to not remember treating you," he stated, matter-of-factly.

She stared at him for a moment. He could feel her eyes on him even if he couldn't see them. He had to pay at least a little attention to the road so that they wouldn't crash.

"What?" he finally asked, feeling a little unnerved that she wasn't saying anything.

"You would do that for me?"

Damon shrugged.

"Why?"

"Good grief, woman," he exclaimed, exasperated. "Do you really have to question everything I do?"

"When it's nice stuff for other people, yes. Yes I do," she replied. "You usually have some sort of agenda and I'm still at a loss as to what your motivating factor is here."

Damon frowned. He was annoyed, but at himself perhaps more than anyone else. He'd let things get to this point. She was right. He didn't usually do things for other people. He didn't know how to explain it, but she wasn't just anyone. She was Elena. That meant something to him, even if he couldn't describe it. _Friends_ didn't entirely cover it for him, but it was the closest thing he could come up with.

He sighed. "Look. My lifetime master plan just fell through," he said. "I spent my entire afterlife trying to get Katherine out of a tomb that she was never in. So, in the absence of a master plan, turns out I have time on my hands."

Elena actually laughed a little. He was being serious and she was laughing. He turned to say something snarky and possibly mean but stopped. She was full-on belly laughing with tears building in her eyes. He was pretty sure he'd never seen her laugh like this. It was infectious. He couldn't help it. He wanted to laugh too. Instead he settled for scowling and turning back to the road but he was pretty sure she saw right though him.

She calmed down a few minutes later, wiping the tears of mirth off her cheeks with her sleeve.

"Are you done?" he asked in a tone that didn't sound nearly as scathing as he was aiming for. This girl was taking all the venom out of him and he was certain he didn't like it.

"Mmmhmm," she murmured. "Yeah, I'm done."

"Great," he said. "If you went on much longer I was going to dump you on the side of the road."

Elena was still smiling though and he felt it tug at his heart. "Thank you," she said.

"What? For not tossing you out? Don't thank me yet. Because that could still happen."

"No, for offering to go with me to the hospital," she said a little softer.

He shrugged again.

Damon felt relieved as he pulled up to the address on Elena's slip of paper and parked his blue Camaro on the side of the road near the driveway. He couldn't take much more of this sissy stuff. He was ready to find the nearest human and make a meal of him, just to feel like some balance had been achieved. Instead he turned the car off and waited for her to say something.

But Elena was silent and staring at the big white house at the top of the driveway. It was as if she was waiting for the house to give her answers. She had gone back to her pensive self. After a few moments, Damon grew impatient.

"Is there some sign in particular you're waiting for?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

Elena visibly shook herself. "Oh. No, not really. Just getting over my nerves I guess."

Damon nodded. "Well, let's go then, before they fail you completely," he said, reaching for his door handle.

"Wait," she said, grabbing his right arm and gripping his sleeve tight. "Don't get out. I think I want to go up there by myself."

Damon frowned. "If you wanted to do this by yourself, why did you ask me to come with you?"

Elena took a deep breath, searching her brain for an answer. "I don't know. I think I was afraid I wouldn't go through with it if I didn't tell someone."

He let go of the door handle and rested his hands on the steering wheel. Elena released his sleeve and dropped her hands in her lap.

"Why did you tell _me_?" he asked even though he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.

Elena shrugged. "Well, because I knew you wouldn't let me back out. All my other friends would tell me it was my decision and let me change my mind if I wanted to," she paused, meeting his bright blue eyes with her own dark ones. "I knew you wouldn't let me be a chicken. You'd make me go."

"Damn straight," he replied with a smirk.

Elena smiled and looked down at her hands. After another few moments, Damon interrupted the silence.

"Okay, Elena?"

"Hmm?"

"Yeah, this is where I make you get out of my car or else I _will_ toss you," he said, pointing toward the house they were parked next to. "Go on. Go get your answers."

Elena bit her lip and nodded. She pushed the door open and started to get out.

"Oh, and Elena?"

She stopped and glanced back over her shoulder. "Yeah?"

Damon met her gaze, his eyes thoughtful for a moment. "Don't come back without them."

* * *

"I wasn't going to come," Elena said as she took off her jacket. "I mean, I didn't think I was. But I've had a lot of time to think about it these last few days. I mean, I almost came the yesterday, when I was driving. I came to a stoplight, which reminded me of when I was learning to drive and my mother would always warn me about this blind left-hand turn. And, well I had your address-" she paused and took a breath, smiling sheepishly. "I waited. But, well I should have called or something first. I'm sorry to barge in like this."

Trudie Peterson just smiled and shook her head, a few stray blond strands falling from in front of her ear. "It's no problem," she said, motioning for Elena to take a seat at the table while they waited on their tea. She glanced out the front window for a second before turning back to Elena. "Is that your boyfriend out there waiting?"

Elena flushed and looked over her shoulder. She wasn't surprised to see that Damon had gotten out of the car, probably so that he could eavesdrop a little easier, and propped himself up on the hood of his car. He was reclined back against the windshield, arms crossed behind his head, looking for all intents and purposes like he didn't have a care in the world.

"Oh, no," she said, shaking her head. "No, he's just a friend of mine. I didn't want to come by myself."

"Well, he's a cute one," she said with a conspiratorial grin. "Anyway, I'm glad to meet you. It's just a surprise though. I haven't thought about Isobel in years."

"When was the last time you saw her?" Elena asked, laying her coat on the table next to her. She took a seat in the high-backed dining chair, waiting as the woman took her seat as well.

Trudie folded her hands on the table. "Well, about seventeen years ago," she answered. "When she left to go have you. We kept in touch for a while but, well, you know. People drift apart." She shrugged as if to say that it could happen to anyone.

Elena frowned. It seemed so sad to her. This woman's best friend had been pregnant, had a secret baby, and then left. Elena tried to think about how she would feel if it had been Bonnie or Caroline, leaving her like that. She couldn't even process it. But then, she was pretty sure she'd never let one of them get away with something like that.

"Do you have any idea where she ended up?" she asked, pushing away the turmoil that she felt at the idea of one of her friends disappearing on her. She hated how she seemed to dwell on random, imagined scenarios these days. It was another thing on her list of pregnancy quirks she intended to look up sometime.

"Well, she was in Florida for a while. She was on her own. I know that wasn't easy," Trudie answered.

Elena sighed and sat back in her chair. She was suddenly very thankful to have the people in her life that she did. Her Aunt Jenna was insanely supportive right now. Bonnie had her back. Even Damon was helping out, in his own way. And she knew Stefan wanted to, which made her heart extremely heavy. She was going to seriously have to start thinking about forgiving him. Avoiding him wasn't going to fix anything.

Thinking of Stefan brought her to her next question. "Do you have any idea who my father is?"

For the first time since Elena had been ushered into her home, Trudie hesitated. It was small but Elena picked up on it. "No," Trudie finally replied. "I could never get her to fess up."

The air was heavy between them. Elena knew she wasn't being truthful, but didn't know how to get her to divulge the information. Trudie could see that Elena knew, but she didn't back down or change her answer.

"Anyway," Trudie said, breaking the awkward silence. "She finally did pull it together. Got into college on a scholarship."

Elena couldn't help but smile at the idea that her mother managed to go back to school. "Where did she go?"

"Somewhere in North Carolina," she answered, returning the smile. "Duke, I think. Smart girl, smart school."

Elena grinned. Duke had been one of the schools on her wish list for almost a year now.

In the kitchen, the kettle started to whistle. Trudie pointed over her shoulder as she stood. "Let me just get that," she said and bustled off to make their tea.

As soon as the woman was out of the room, Elena sighed and put her head down on the table. She had been expecting this to be somewhat emotional but she hadn't thought it would be like this. She felt like her heart was being ripped apart, and over a person she had never met. She didn't know how that could be possible. She sat back up and looked down at her own belly, which probably still looked flat to someone who didn't know her. She placed her hand over that little life and wondered how in the world someone could give that life away. Maybe her mother went through hell when the time came. Maybe she hadn't cared. But either way, she'd done it. She had walked away from her tiny daughter and never looked back. Elena couldn't do it. She already felt like this little person was her whole life. She hadn't known she would feel like that so soon. But here it was.

The next half an hour was as pleasant as it was heartbreaking. Trudie brought out high school yearbooks, a scrapbook of their trip to the lake together, the school bulletin that Isobel had written for. Trudie told stories about their adventures in cheerleading and how their football team had been terrible. It all seemed so very normal. As Elena turned the pages in the yearbook, looking at the faces there, she wondered if one of these young men could be her father. And if so, which one?

Trudie interrupted her musing, pointing to Elena's cup that was slowly starting to go cold. "You haven't touched your tea."

Honestly, Elena had forgotten all about it. "Oh, yeah," she said and picked up the cup and saucer. She was still looking at the yearbook pictures as she took a sip. She stopped. There was something very familiar about the taste of this tea.

She looked down at the cup but couldn't tell anything from the color. She subtly sniffed it and her suspicions were confirmed. Plastering on a fake smile, she looked up at Trudie and asked, "What is this?"

Trudie wouldn't meet her eyes, flipping through the pictures instead. "Oh, it's just some herbal mixture," she said vaguely.

"Vervain?"

Suddenly, all the blood drained from Trudie's face and she froze. It was all the answered Elena needed.

"You know," she said, lowering the cup and saucer back to the table.

"Know what?" the woman said, still unable to really meet her gaze. She was looking everywhere but at Elena's eyes.

And then Elena thought about it and realized something else. "You _know_. You didn't invite me in and you're serving vervain tea," she paused. "You know."

Trudie gulped and rose from her chair. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the back of it. "I think you should probably leave," she said in a trembling voice.

"Wait," Elena pleaded, looking up at her. "What are you not telling me?"

"Please leave," Trudie said a little more forcefully. When it looked like Elena might not move, she grew almost hostile. "Now!"

Elena was startled by the woman's reaction. She grabbed her coat from the table and backed away, confused. This woman knew something about vampires, knew enough to be cautious. Considering where they were and the connection to her mother, Elena was sure it wasn't a coincidence.

But she didn't have time to ask. Trudie's defensive posture left no room for arguments. Elena shrugged into her jacket and let herself out the front door.

She came down the front steps, wrapping her scarf around her neck a little tighter. She looked up to see that Damon was no longer relaxing on his hood. He'd jumped down and was leaning against the passenger door, watching as she came down the walk. The look on his face made her think that he'd at least heard the last part of their conversation.

"What did you do to make her kick you out?" he asked, opening the car door for her as she approached.

She frowned. "What makes you think it was something _I_ did?"

"Lucky guess?" he teased, waggling his eyebrows.

But Elena was in no mood to joke. She glanced at the open car door and chose to stay standing, crossing her arms instead. "Damon, she knows about vampires."

Damon looked back up at the house in time to see Trudie drawing the curtains in the front window. "What? How do you know that?"

"She didn't invite me into the house and she served me vervain tea," she said. She shivered in the crisp fall air. It felt like the temperature had dropped ten degrees while she was inside but it was probably her imagination.

Damon noticed and motioned impatiently for her to get in the car. She rolled her eyes and climbed in, letting him slam the door behind her.

He slipped into the driver's side and sat behind the wheel for a moment before starting the car. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That this can't be a coincidence?" she asked.

"Yeah," he agreed, putting the car into gear and pulling away from the house.

Elena sighed and propped her elbow up on the door next to the window. She rested her head in her hand and blinked hard. She was tired. All of this emotional turmoil was draining her. She looked up and saw herself in the side mirror, grimacing at how worn out she appeared.

While she was looking in the mirror, she thought she saw a man standing in the street behind them, back by the house. But when she looked over her shoulder, he was gone.

"What is it?" Damon asked, glancing backwards to see what she was looking at.

Elena shook her head and turned back around, rubbing her temples. "Nothing," she said. "I'm just tired and losing my mind."

"Okay, let's be real here," he said with a raised eyebrow. "You can't lose something you never had."

Elena smiled in spite of herself and pushed at his shoulder. He smirked for a second before turning his eyes back to the road.

"_You hid your skeletons when I had shown you mine. You woke the devil that I thought you'd left behind." ~Linkin Park "Powerless"_

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. L. J. Smith is the genius behind the original Vampire Diaries characters and those things related to their universe. Also, any direct lines from the show should be credited to Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec. I just enjoy tormenting the wonderful characters she has created for us. I claim no rights to them!


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry for the delay guys. We had some illness going around in the family, tuckered us all out. But seems like we're on the mend so the next chapter shouldn't be so late. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

"Ships in the Night"

Lucawindmover

Chapter Three

"Sorrow"

* * *

"_Sorrow waited, sorrow won." ~The National "Sorrow"_

Damon dropped his car into neutral, pulled the parking brake, and turned off the engine. He sat for a moment, in silence, thinking about the information they'd gleaned from Trudie Peterson. Elena was convinced that the woman knew something about vampires. For one, she hadn't invited Elena into the house. For another, she served Elena vervain tea. Also, when Elena confronted her about it, Trudie asked her to leave rather forcefully.

Damon hadn't paid attention to most of the conversation. Once they started reminiscing, he spaced out. It was all too high school reunion for him. But once their voices were raised and Elena was being kicked out, he made sure to be ready just in case Elena needed his help.

Turned out she didn't need help with Trudie. But she did need help trying to figure out what had happened to her birthmother. He wasn't sure what he could do about that, but he'd try. It was more Stefan's area of expertise, helping for the sake of being helpful, but he tried to swallow that down without gagging. He kept reminding himself that he wasn't going to let Stefan get his happy ending. If that meant doing a little research so that Elena wouldn't go asking someone else, it was the least he could do.

He got out of his car and went inside, wanting a drink after their adventure. He'd hoped for a little peace and quiet too, but that wasn't meant to be.

Stefan was waiting for him in the sitting room. Damon grit his teeth and ignored his brother's presence as he made his way across the room to pour himself a bourbon. He could feel Stefan's gaze follow him as he walked so he took his time. He knocked back his first drink in a couple of swallows and poured himself a second. He would sip this one. Finally, when he was finished, he turned to his brother.

"Greetings," Damon said sarcastically, raising his glass as if to toast him.

Stefan crossed his arms. "Can we talk?"

Damon sighed and walked to the closet couch, taking a seat. "I'm sure we can. I don't really want to but I doubt that's going to stop you from trying."

"It's important," the younger Salvatore replied. He stood behind the opposite couch, his hands resting on the back of it. Damon could tell he was serious by the way he gripped the furniture. His knuckles were nearly white and he could hear a subtle creak of the wood beneath his fingers.

Damon closed his eyes and rolled his head back, resting it on the top of his couch. "What? Are you worried about me?"

Stefan didn't answer.

"That's nice," he said. "Don't be. I'm fine. So my master plan fell through. No big deal. It's been kind of liberating not having a master plan," he paused and lifted his head. He opened his eyes and locking them with his brother's, waggling his eyebrows. "I can do whatever I want."

Stefan's jaw discernibly tightened. "That's kind of what I'm afraid of."

"Ugh," Damon said, rolling his eyes. "Don't worry. I haven't killed anyone in _too_ long."

Silence hung in the air for a few moments and Damon frowned. "Look," he said finally. "You didn't come in here to give me a pep talk. Spill it, brother."

Stefan's discomfort rose visibly at this accusation. He sighed and came around the edge of the couch, taking a seat across from Damon. "There was a woman whom you may have known, a few years back. A woman named Isobel, in North Carolina, at Duke."

Damon frowned. "You want to discuss the women of my past with me right now? Seriously?"

Stefan's face tightened. "You killed her."

"What's your point?" Damon asked with a shrug. He took another sip of his drink.

"I just want to know if you remember anything about her."

Damon blinked slowly and focused on his brother for a moment. There had to be a reason behind this location-specific questioning. "Who wants to know?"

Stefan's face didn't change, which was as much of a tell for him as twitching would be for someone else. "_I_ do."

"Uh huh," Damon said, taking a sip of his drink. "Who _else_ wants to know?"

"Why does this have to involve anyone else?"

"Because Stefan," Damon said, annoyed. "It isn't like you to go prying into my past like this. You and I generally have a 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy between us. So, who wants to know?"

Stefan broke their eye contact and Damon knew he was right to suspect him. But Stefan wasn't fessing up.

Damon took another sip of the bourbon and pondered his brother's question for a moment. Hadn't he heard someone talking about Duke today? Wait, that was at Trudie's house. Elena's birthmother, _her_ name was Isobel.

All of a sudden, it was as if someone had reached into his belly and ripped his guts out. Someone had literally done that to him before so he recognized the feeling. This couldn't be a coincidence. Isobel wasn't that common of a name.

He gulped past his rising nausea to pose a question, struggling to keep his face as neutral as possible. "You said Isobel. As in, Isobel Flemming?"

Stefan slid back a little on the couch. "Oh, so suddenly you _do_ remember her."

Damon sat up and put his glass on the side table. He didn't want Stefan to see how badly his hands were shaking. "Before I tell you anything else, I need you to tell me who wants this information," he paused. "Is it Elena? Does she know?"

Stefan frowned for a second and Damon could practically see the dots being connected in his head. "No, she doesn't know," he answered. "It's Alaric Saltzman who wants to know. It was his _wife_ you killed."

"And Elena's birthmother," Damon said, grumbling under his breath. A human might not have heard him but his brother wasn't human. He propped his elbows up on his knees and buried his face in his hands, rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah," Stefan replied. "I was wondering if you would put that together on your own or if I would have to tell you."

Damon felt his face harden. He lifted his head from his hands and glared at Stefan. "I imagine you've told Elena all of this, right? She'll come running right back to your arms and curse me for the monster that I am. Is that your plan? Steal the only friend I've managed to make in the last hundred and fifty years?"

"Are you kidding?" Stefan asked, incredulously, throwing his arms out wide. "I don't want to hurt her. This information will be devastating. As much as I would like to see her cut you out of her life, I'm not going to knowingly put her through pain to do so."

Damon regarded him for a moment through cold eyes. "That's _awfully_ big of you, little bro."

"Yeah, well," Stefan said, running his hand through his hair nervously. "I haven't been the best boyfriend to her lately, if that's even what I still am. She's got so much to deal with right now. How could we tell her this and make it all _that_ much worse?"

"So you think we shouldn't tell her?" Damon asked. "At all?"

Stefan shook his head. "I'm saying we should think about how to do it without making it worse than it's already likely to be."

Damon stood and grabbed his glass. He walked across the room and up the two stairs leading to the hallway. He turned back to look at Stefan and frowned. "It doesn't matter how we tell her, brother. It's going to be bad."

Damon carried the bourbon up to his room, thankful to hear that Stefan wasn't following him. He had a lot of thinking to do.

For one, he had information that no one else seemed to suspect as of yet. Stefan and Alaric were pretty sure that Damon had killed Isobel, that she had been just another of his tasty morsels and nothing more.

He really wished that had been the case. It might have been so much easier to answer for than the reality. The truth was so much more damning than the fiction he was letting them believe.

* * *

Jeremy growled in frustration and threw himself backwards onto his sister's bed, letting his legs hang off the side. She usually hated it when he did that but she wasn't here to see so he didn't really care.

He'd had the house to himself for most of the day and had taken that opportunity to turn Elena's room upside down in search of her journal, with no success. He'd been meticulous, making sure to check behind books, pictures, under her mattress, in her closet. He'd even crawled around the floor looking for a loose board or something. He'd been pretty sure, from his short time being a druggy, that he'd be able to find any decent hiding spot. But it seemed as if the book wasn't here. He remembered how some days the thing was practically glued to her hand, going with her to school, or the library, or her friend's house, even the Grill on a few occasions. With his luck, she had it with her now, wherever she was. Her backpack wasn't here and he was willing to bet that's where it was hidden at the moment.

He closed his eyes and threw his arm over his face. He was really tired. Anna had interrupted his sleep several times this week and he was pretty exhausted. He found himself endlessly jealous at her stamina and lack of real need for sleep. He had originally planned to make up on his missed sleep today but the opportunity to search Elena's room while she was gone had proven too tempting. Now he was regretting that, considering he'd ended up empty-handing.

Jeremy was sure he'd only been lying there for a couple of minutes. He didn't hear it when Elena came in the front door and tramped loudly up the stairs. In fact, he didn't even stir until she was calling his name from her own doorway.

"Jer? What are you doing in here?"

He sat up slowly rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands in the process. He glanced at the window and noticed that it was almost dark. How long had he been asleep? He couldn't even remember what time it had been when he laid down.

"Oh, hey Elena," he said, watching as she dumped her backpack and purse on a chair in the corner. He frowned, wishing he could rifle through it now but knowing that he couldn't. "I didn't mean to fall asleep. I was just…" he paused, realizing that he didn't have a reasonable excuse to be here. "I wanted to talk to you about something," he finished lamely, hoping that she didn't notice.

Elena frowned, her shoulders dropping. "Well, actually there's something I wanted to talk to you about too," she said.

"Oh," he replied. "Well, you go first."

She crossed her arms across her belly and shifted her weight from one foot to another.

This was the first time Jeremy had actually gotten to look at her since the revelation of her pregnancy. He felt like an idiot for not seeing it sooner. She was definitely sporting looser sweaters and bulky sweatshirts lately. He hadn't thought anything about it considering it was cold out. But when she crossed her arms like that he could see it, just a little.

His sister took a seat next to him at the foot of the bed and pulled her legs up, crossing them under her. She dropped her hands down to her lap and just stared at them. Her silence and fidgeting were a little unnerving for him. Usually Elena was a rock. It was weird to him for that façade to slip a little.

Most of Jeremy's righteous fury evaporated in the face of the pained look on his sister's face. He might have been mad at her but he still didn't like to see her so upset. She looked like she could start sobbing at any moment, which was a possibility he hadn't been prepared for. His 'fight or flight' instinct was leaning heavily toward the 'flight' option right now.

"You know, I don't even know how to start this," she said with a shaky laugh. "So I guess I'll just say it. Aunt Jenna and I recently uncovered some information and it turns out…well, it turns out that I'm adopted."

Adopted?

He'd been expecting her to say that she was pregnant, not adopted. After a moment of complete and utter shock, he responded. "What? Adopted? How?" he stammered, mostly incoherently.

"I know, it's totally unbelievable, right?" she said, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "But it's true. And I've been struggling forever to find the right words to tell you."

Jeremy's brow furrowed. "How long have you known? And why would you be worried about telling me?"

"I found out a couple of months ago," she said, still not looking at him. "And of course I would worry about telling you. I didn't know how you'd react. I mean, it's weird. We spent our whole lives believing we were blood related. It's kind of a shock."

She turned her head to look at him and he let go of the last of his anger. "Does it bug you that we're not? You know, related?"

She shook her head. "What? No, Jer. You're my brother. That's all that matters."

Jeremy cracked a half-smile and scratched the back of his neck. "I can't believe Mom and Dad never told you though."

Elena shrugged. "I'm sure they thought they had time. I mean, I imagine they'd have told me eventually."

"Well, yeah. I guess," he replied.

"Jenna said they'd been having a hard time having a baby," she said. "You were their miracle baby."

Jeremy stared at her, dazed. He certainly had never felt miraculous.

She looked back down at her hands and started fiddling again. "Look, there was something else I wanted to talk to you about."

He was pretty sure what this one was but considering everything she was dealing with right now, he figured playing dumb was a good idea.

"I know we're not blood related but, well," she paused and then looked back up at him. "How do you feel about being an uncle?"

"Are you saying it's something I need to prepare for?" he asked, knowing full well the answer to the question.

"Well, I think you have until about August," she said, blushing furiously.

Jeremy reached over and gave her a big bear hug. "Of course I'll be an uncle. How could you even ask me that, you goof?"

Elena laughed, relieved. He could tell that it must have been weighing heavily on her, having all of this horrible information and not being able to share it. He half hoped they could just tell each other about the vampire parts too but he wasn't sure he was ready for her to know that he knew. He still wanted that journal. He still wanted to know, without a filter, what he'd been missing these last few months. As much as he wanted to trust and believe anything that Elena said, he wasn't sure he could trust her to tell him the whole truth about this. She'd been lying to him for months.

But he didn't know how to ask his next question without giving away that he knew. Stefan could _not_ be the father of this baby. He was a vampire. It defied logic. Jeremy figured he'd try anyway and see what the official story was. "So, um. Wow, weird question. Who's the father?"

She looked at him and narrowed her eyes a little. "It's Stefan, Jer. Why would you even ask that?"

"Oh, I…" he stumbled. "I didn't think you guys were, you know, that serious."

She blushed and looked back at her hands. Crisis averted. "Well, we were. For a little while at least. Ugh," she said. She threw herself backwards and uncrossed her legs, letting them hang over the edge of the bed much like Jeremy's had been when she got home. "No more questions about that. I never, _ever_ want to talk to you about my sex life again."

Jeremy laughed. "That makes two of us."

She sighed heavily and looked up at him again, a pained expression on her features. "What am I going to do about school? I mean, the baby should be due over the summer so I shouldn't have to miss any time. But people are going to shun me now, I just know it."

"Pffft," Jeremy said, scooting himself around and against the pillows at the head of her bed. "People won't do that."

Elena sat up on her elbows. "They will. When I was a Freshman there was a popular Sophomore who got pregnant and everyone turned on her. I mean, she even dropped out and got her GED just so she wouldn't have to deal with it."

"Well, maybe. But that won't happen to you."

"How could you possibly know that?"

"Because," he said with a shrug. "You've got something that girl probably didn't have. Friends. Real friends. There is no way Bonnie or Matt or Caroline would let anyone talk trash about you," he paused. "Me neither. I've got your back, sis."

For a moment Elena looked like she was going to cry. Or be sick. Or hug him, he couldn't tell. She eventually just nodded and laid back across the bed.

Jeremy took this as his signal to go and made some homework excuse. He couldn't tell if she actually believed him or if she was just ready to be alone, but either way she didn't say anything about it.

Back in his room, he sat at his desk and thought about everything he'd just learned. And the first thing he did, after organizing his thoughts, was text Anna.

"_I live in a city sorrow built." ~The National "Sorrow"_

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. L. J. Smith is the genius behind the original Vampire Diaries characters and those things related to their universe. Also, any direct lines from the show should be credited to Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec. I just enjoy tormenting the wonderful characters she has created for us. I claim no rights to them!


	5. Chapter 4

"Ships in the Night"

Lucawindmover

Chapter Four

"Change"

* * *

_Nothing goes as planned. Everything will break. ~Andrew Belle "In My Veins"_

It was brisk out, Stefan could tell. He didn't feel it the way the humans did. But one look around the town square made it obvious. The humans were bundled in heavy coats, hats, and scarves. They chafed their hands together to stay warm while their breaths came out in puffs of ice crystals. No one really stood around to talk. Instead, they invited one another into shops or running cars or into the Grill. He could even smell the cold. There was a crispness to it, a clean and clinical scent that blunted all other smells. It would abate once spring rolled around again and the last frost was behind them. But for now he was left with the scent of ice and the distant aroma of wood smoke from somewhere he couldn't discern.

Stefan wore a dark leather jacket, but it was more to blend in than to keep warm. The human walking toward him, however, had his hands deep in his coat pockets, his shoulders hunched up to keep the cold wind off of his neck.

"Thanks for meeting me," Alaric Saltzman said briskly as he approached. "Something's come up."

To Stefan, this could only mean one thing and it complicated everything. Jenna told Alaric her suspicions about Elena's birthmother and they had turned out to be true. He sighed. He didn't know how to keep him from telling Elena about what Damon had done. He wasn't trying to protect Damon. By all means, he would love to see his brother take the fall for this one. But Elena had bonded with him and it would break her heart to hear this from someone other than him.

"Jenna told you," Stefan said through clenched teeth. He looked off to the clock tower, wishing it doled out advice rather than telling time.

Alaric didn't seem to want to look at him either. "Yeah," he said with a heavy sigh.

"So it's true. Your wife Isobel was Elena's birthmother," Stefan said, turning his question into more of a statement.

"What does Elena know?" Alaric asked impatiently. It was almost as if he didn't want to admit the truth, even though they both knew.

Stefan let out a breath and crossed his arms. "About your wife?"

"About everything," he demanded. "About you. About your brother…"

Stefan shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He felt like he was being interrogated and he didn't like it. "She knows what I am and she knows that _you_ know about the vampires."

Alaric didn't seem to like his answer but wasn't sure how to react. He closed his eyes for a long moment, digesting the information. "Does she know about Damon and Isobel?"

"No," Stefan answered. "I couldn't tell her. Not until I was sure. And there are other circumstances to consider right now."

Alaric raised an eyebrow and smirked a little. "Oh, you mean the baby?"

Stefan felt his stomach sink. He knew it was going to happen eventually. They couldn't keep this secret indefinitely. Elena was going to seriously start showing in another month or two and then everyone would know. But even knowing that, he couldn't stop the feeling of being staked in the stomach. He had grown up in a time where young women didn't get pregnant out of wedlock. Teenagers only had babies after they were married, not while they were still living under their parents' roof. Some part of him was still that young man, devastated to have put Elena in this position. That wasn't likely to change and as more people started finding out and shaming her, he was going to have to fight the urge to ask her to run away and elope with him.

"I suppose Jenna told you that too?" he said after a long pause.

Alaric pulled one of his hands out of his coat pocket and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah well, she needed someone to talk to about it. She's never been the guardian of a pregnant teenager before. Comes with its own unique kinds of stress."

Stefan nodded. He understood that Jenna needed a confidant. He really did. He just wished she had told someone other than the resident vampire hunter. Not that she was likely to know about that part of the whole situation. It seemed that while Jenna might have a loose tongue with Alaric, he hadn't been quite _as_ transparent with her.

"Well," Alaric said. "Even with that in mind, you said you would help me."

"Look, I asked Damon without saying too much. He doesn't remember," Stefan replied. The lie slipped off the tip of his tongue without hesitation. He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt. Not only had he inadvertently let on to Damon who Isobel was to Elena, he'd managed to let him in on the connection to Alaric as well. He didn't think the man would be very understanding about that and Stefan didn't want him barreling around with stakes, vervain, and a vendetta right now.

"Ask him again," Alaric said forcefully, catching his volume at the last second as to not draw attention to them. He seemed to be wholly unafraid of making demands of the vampire in front of him. Stefan wasn't sure whether to take that as brave or reckless, though he figured it might be a combination of both. Here was a man who had lost his wife, who might decide he didn't have anything else to live for anymore. It was more volatile of a situation than Stefan wanted to deal with right now.

Stefan shook his head. "Look. Damon is not stable right now. And Elena's in a delicate situation. I can't do anything that might come back to hurt her."

It was a little too much for Alaric, whose face filled with heat and frustration. If they hadn't been in such a public place, he might have shouted or even tried to strike Stefan right then and there. Somehow he managed to restrain himself, but just barely. "You know he murdered my _wife_? Or at the very least made a meal out of her? When has he _been_ stable?"

"I'm telling you not to push this."

"Give me a reason not to."

Stefan took a step closer to his history teacher. He was starting to get tired of this devil-may-care attitude. "Your survival. How's that for a reason?" He paused, waiting for a reaction from the man and not getting one. "Look, I'm going to handle this. But for now I need you to let it go."

Alaric scoffed. "Is that what you'll tell Elena? Hmm? Let it go?"

Seeing that the first step closer hadn't made his point, Stefan moved within a few inches of the other man's face. His jaw muscles were twitching with anger. He could let a lot of things slide because he knew Alaric was upset and had every right to be. But he wouldn't have him bring Elena into this before it was time. "Leave Elena out of this," he said in a voice not much louder than a whisper.

Alaric didn't move back. He just frowned and stared at the vampire for a moment. "I just need to know what happened. I think you would, too."

It was Stefan who finally turned away, putting his hands back in his pockets. He couldn't take the pain and vulnerability in the other man's eyes. Alaric was right. If this had happened to Elena, he would be scouring the earth for the perpetrator, come hell or high water. He understood the sentiments. But at the same time he could not allow this man to put this information in Elena's hands right now. There was so much more that needed to be understood first. There had to be a way to spin this so that Elena didn't get upset. Or maybe she needed to get upset about it, just not overly so. Perhaps this would be what made Damon leave town and then Stefan could start picking up all these broken pieces.

"I'll talk to him again," Stefan said, almost under his breath. "But I can't make you any promises, alright?"

He glanced over at Alaric who nodded in response. Stefan really did feel bad for lying to the guy but he wasn't sure how to tell him that not only did Damon kill his wife but he remembered doing it. The fact that his brother seemed a little remorseful about it wouldn't have meant anything to Alaric. And Stefan was sure Damon was more worried about Elena finding out about it than he was about apologizing for having done it.

Alaric sighed and turned away, trudging back through the cold to his car. Stefan took a seat on one of the many benches in the square and put his head in his hands. He really didn't know what he was doing.

* * *

Elena looked down at the number on her ringing phone and grimaced. For a moment she almost didn't answer it. It would be so easy to avoid this call and just let it go to voicemail. But she'd been telling herself, ever since the afternoon meeting Trudie Peterson, that if he called her, she would answer. How could she expect things to get better if she didn't give him a chance? It wasn't like her to hold a grudge this long. She knew it. She had always been horrible at holding grudges in the past. Part of her wondered if it was the pregnancy hormones making her less willing to forgive him. She filed it under her list of things to look up the next time she was at the computer and sighed, answering the call right before it went to voicemail.

"Hello?" she answered, taking a seat on the edge of her bed. This was a call she couldn't do standing.

"Oh," Stefan replied, sounding a little surprised. "I mean, hi. Sorry, I honestly wasn't expecting you to answer."

Even after weeks of not speaking to each other, and a horrible fight before that, his voice still managed to send a spiral of mutinous butterflies through her stomach. "Well, I almost didn't," she said. She switched the phone to her other ear, waiting for a response. She didn't get one right away. In fact, the strange silence persisted until she broke it. "Was there something in particular you wanted?"

"Right," Stefan said. He sounded uncharacteristically flustered. Elena found it a little endearing, considering that he usually oozed charm and confidence. "I wanted to ask you if you would come to dinner with me tomorrow night, at the Grill."

Elena frowned. He'd gotten right to the point and she was suddenly very nervous of his intentions. "I don't know Stefan."

"Just hear me out. I only want to talk. Nothing romantic or anything. Just two people eating together and catching up. I promise."

She thought about it for a minute. He had gone longer without contacting her than she'd expected. She had honestly figured he would show up on her front porch, or at school, weeks ago. The fact that he had lasted this long showed her that he was trying. And she couldn't blame him for wanting to check in and catch up. He probably wanted to know all about the baby and how she was doing. Part of her really wanted to tell him all about what he was missing. She decided to go with that part and trust her instincts. He wasn't forgiven yet by any means, but he might never be if she didn't give him the opportunity to try.

"You know, I wish we had somewhere in this town to go to besides the Grill," she joked. "But the Café doesn't serve dinner and the food at that redneck bar is horrible."

She could hear Stefan laugh a little on the other side which made her feel good. The tension between them was palpable. "Well, maybe sometime we could take a trip to Richmond and find somewhere else to eat. There's no end to the restaurant options there."

Elena smirked. "Don't get ahead of yourself, mister. But to answer your question, yes. I'll meet you at the Grill. I'd like that." Upon saying it she realized it was true. She really would like to talk to him. About the baby, about her birthmother, about telling Jeremy about the adoption. She had been missing his friendship as much as anything else and she found she was genuinely happy to be trying to set that part straight at least.

They agreed to a time and she made an excuse to get off the phone. She didn't want to drag out the conversation. It felt weird to talk to him on the phone after everything that had happened. It seemed so mundane and contrary to how their lives were actually unfolding.

For a moment she thought about calling Damon. She hadn't really seen him or talked to him since Trudie's, but that wasn't really unusual for them. It had only been a few days, true, but it felt a lot longer than that. She decided against it. He and Stefan weren't on the best terms these days either and she didn't want to make it any worse by involving him in this. It was a simple dinner.

Besides, what harm would it do?

* * *

Elena couldn't believe her luck. She had hoped to beat Stefan to the Grill but she hadn't really expected to. They had agreed on seven and she was a half an hour early but she had somehow still expected to see him there already. The temperature had really dropped over the last few days and she had a few layers to shed as she made her way through the restaurant. Being a weeknight it wasn't really crowded, for which she was thankful. It was likely to be awkward enough between her and Stefan _without_ adding a local audience to the mix.

She took a seat in one of the side booths, ordering water when the waitress came by. She let the girl know that she was waiting for someone so she'd be ordering her food a little later and that no, she didn't need a menu but thanked her anyway.

Matt was working tonight, she noticed, bussing tables. He looked tired a harassed, which wasn't unusual considering where he worked. When he recognized her sitting there alone, he tossed his damp towel over his shoulder, wiped his hands on his stained apron, and made his way over.

"Hey Elena," he said, propping his tote of dirty dishes on the empty table next to her booth.

"Hey yourself," Elena responded with a genuine smile. "I feel like we haven't talked in ages. How are you?"

Matt shrugged and leaned against the side of the booth with his arms crossed. "Oh you know, the usual. My mom's in town."

"Oh wow," Elena said. "How are things with Kelly?"

"Same old Kelly," Matt said, rolling his eyes. "She got so wasted at the bachelor auction that I had to take her home and carry her to bed."

Elena's shoulders drooped a little. She hated seeing him so tired and drawn. He'd been forced to grow up way too fast. Lately it seemed like they had all been thrust into adulthood before their time. She suddenly felt horrible that she'd been so absent in her friends' lives lately.

"You and Caroline still doing okay?" she asked, taking a sip of her water. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had a real conversation with her, either. "We should all get together sometime, watch a movie or something."

She could tell by the way he shuffled his feet that Caroline was a subject he wasn't comfortable talking to her about. Elena didn't mind them dating. In a way, she really thought they were perfect for each other. Matt spent so much time alone or taking care of his mother. Caroline, she knew, didn't see much of her mother since Sheriff Forbes worked so much. The two of them were lonely before they had each other. There was something to be said for a companion who understood that kind of loneliness.

"I'd really like that. I'll run it by her. Things are good with us I guess," he replied. He paused and shook his head. "Kelly doesn't like her. But then she didn't like any girls but you so that's no surprise." He grinned, oblivious to how awkward that statement had made her feel. She wasn't comfortable with how Kelly tended to compare her to other girls, but there wasn't really anything she could do about it. Honestly, Matt had never seemed bothered by it. "But hey, what's going on with you and Stefan?" he asked, changing the subject. "I mean, not that it's any of my business or anything but people are saying you guys broke up."

Elena sighed. Trust the high school rumor mill to jump on that one. At least they hadn't caught wind of the pregnancy yet. Then they'd _really_ have something to talk about. "We're kind of taking some time off. We don't really know what we are right now. I'm actually waiting for him now," she said, glancing down at her phone to check the time. "I think we're going to talk some things out and see where it leaves us."

Matt reached over and hefted the container of dishes against his hip. "Well good luck," he said, sounding like he really meant it. Then he nodded his head toward the door. "Because here he comes."

_Everything will change. Nothing stays the same. Nobody here's perfect, oh, but everyone's to blame. ~Andrew Belle "In My Veins"_

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. L. J. Smith is the genius behind the original Vampire Diaries characters and those things related to their universe. Also, any direct lines from the show should be credited to Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec. I just enjoy tormenting the wonderful characters she has created for us. I claim no rights to them!

A/N: Thanks for all the support guys. Delena in the next chapter…get ready for it!


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